{
  "id": 9151519,
  "title": "Barbara Mazzolai Wants to Build a New Field of Robotics",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/barbara-mazzolai-wants-to-build-a-new-field-of-robotics",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-22T14:00:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IEEE Spectrum",
    "slug": "ieee-spectrum",
    "url": "https://spectrum.ieee.org/sustainability-robotics-barbara-mazzolai"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Barbara Mazzolai, an Italian roboticist, has long drawn inspiration from nature to create innovative robots. Now, she aims to develop a new field of robotics that benefits the environment. Initially a biologist, Mazzolai transitioned to engineering and became an early pioneer in bioinspired robotics. She has designed robots modeled after octopuses, plant roots, and seeds, fascinated by the diverse solutions found in nature, shaped by evolution. Mazzolai, now the associate director of robotics at the Italian Institute of Technology, advocates for \"sustainability robotics,\" a new research direction that seeks to minimize the environmental impact of technology. In a manifesto published in Nature Machine Intelligence, she and her collaborators propose a novel approach to robot design, making sustainability a core aspect of their work. Growing up near the Tuscan coast, Mazzolai's fascination with the living world began during her childhood. After studying biology at the University of Pisa, she pursued a master's degree in eco-management and audit schemes, eventually becoming a research assistant at the Italian National Research Council's Institute of Biophysics, focusing on environmental monitoring. Mazzolai transitioned into bioinspired robotics in the late 1990s, developing a soft robot inspired by the octopus. Her research led to the establishment of the Center for Micro-BioRobotics at the Italian Institute of Technology. Inspired by plants' ability to adapt and move, Mazzolai is now exploring plant-based robotics for environmental modeling and precision agriculture, envisioning a future where robots coexist harmoniously with nature.",
  "summary": "Throughout her career, roboticist Barbara Mazzolai has turned to nature for inspiration. Now she wants to ensure the technology she builds gives back to the environment, too. After starting her career as a biologist, a chance opportunity saw Mazzolai switch streams to engineering and become an early pioneer of bioinspired robotics . Building on her knowledge of biology’s ability to solve a…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}